Self-localization of a holon in the reconfiguration task space of a robotic colony

Abstract

This paper introduces a methodology developed for the self-localization of a holon, within the reconfiguration task space of its colony under a highly decentralized decision-making and colony reconfiguration control. Holons act as intelligent agents of a colony in this decentralized structure. We term such an n-holon colony where intelligent agents can self-localize in reconfiguration task space without their tasks within a configuration being assigned by a central controller, as an n-holony. Our approach begins the self localization in task domain of a holon by proposing a way of extracting the invariants of the global state of the holony configuration which will then be used to infer the localization and action estimation by a holon using local knowledge. The holon communicates with its neighbours in order to modify its local knowledge towards a global one. This is the basic inference structure of a holony that is novel when compared to that of a colony of holons.